Canberra Raiders star finally reveals what happened on the night of his Australia Day arrest
After an emotional Curtis Scott broke his silence, revealing what happened on the night of his Australia Day arrest, Alan Jones has weighed in.
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Alan Jones has appealed to Todd Greenberg not to suspend Curtis Scott, declaring the under fire Canberra centre “needs an arm around him, not to be discarded”.
It comes in the wake of Scott’s emotional interview in The Daily Telegraph where the Raiders recruit conceded he had done the wrong thing and has now sworn off alcohol for the rest of the season following his Australia Day arrest.
Greenberg will make a determination in the coming weeks as to whether Scott will be allowed to continue playing while his case goes before the courts. It is understood Greenberg has already viewed police body-cam footage of the arrest but is waiting to see further vision before making a final decision.
Jones called on Greenberg on 2GB “to stop this obsession with rubbing people out”.
“Now I don’t know the boy,” Jones said on his morning program.
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“He is 22. I’m told he can play, and the senior players at the club love him.
“He recently donated his own time and money to a charitable cause, seemingly a good young man.
“On Australia Day this year he made a mistake, he was stupid. He was too drunk, he fell asleep at Moore Park.
“When he was told to move on there was a scuffle with police. So he was rightly arrested and charged.
“Both Curtis Scott and his coach Ricky Stuart have spoken to The Daily Telegraph in Sydney today.
“They acknowledge he did the wrong thing and he won’t be drinking for the rest of the season.
“My understanding is his lawyers also believe the charges against him will be reduced or dropped so that is the context.
“But the NRL now has to decide whether to stand him down indefinitely.
“Now my view, the young fella is 22, he should be allowed to play.
“Give him some counselling that is needed. Give him some community service to do as a punishment with a junior rugby league program. Put him to work.
“But the NRL needs to stop this obsession with rubbing people out.
“Now in some cases that is necessary but this young man needs an arm around him, not to be discarded.
“I would give anyone, and I have said this a million times, a second chance if I knew that would make him a good person.
“I have known Ricky Stuart since he was 16. He is a good person.
“If he gives the young man the tick then as far as I’m concerned I’d be giving the 22-year-old a second chance.
“Todd Greenberg, I hope you will think about it.”
Earlier, an emotional Curtis Scott broke his silence, revealing exclusively his side of the story that led to his Australia Day arrest.
Vowing “I am not a bad person”, Scott maintained his innocence but accepted he had put himself in a dangerous situation that was now jeopardising his rugby league career.
“I was kind of just lost in the city and I sat down to have a rest and I ended up falling asleep,” Scott explained.
Because the matter is still before the courts, Scott could not comment on allegations relating to what happened after he was handcuffed, including police claims that he punched and kicked at an officer.
But while pleading not guilty to all charges, Scott conceded: “I can’t take back what I have done.
“I know I shouldn’t have put myself in that position.”
WALK OF SHAME
With the NRL still to decide if Scott will be stood down as part of the game’s no fault stand down policy pending his court case, Scott also revealed that he has made a promise not to touch alcohol for the rest of this season.
And while he can’t talk about the allegations that led to his arrest, Scott did open up on how embarrassing it was for him and his family after he was collected from Surry Hills Police Station the following morning after his weekend bender.
Scott was arrested just after midnight following Australia Day where pictures of him and his teammates at popular Sydney drinking spots had been plastered on social media.
By the time he made it home it’s fair to say it was the walk of shame.
“My sister came and got me,” he said.
“I don’t want to put her name in the paper but she came and got me.
“And my dad, he stuck by me.
“Mum was angry at the start.
“But once she heard about the details she was feeling for me.”
He said it had been particularly tough on his family given the social media fallout.
“I have been off social media but they are on there and they see comments from the keyboard warriors and everyone putting in their two cents and their opinions,” he said.
“I can’t control that. It is just the way things are going these days.”
Scott conceded for days he struggled just to walk out his front door.
“Obviously when it all happened I didn’t leave the house,” he said.
“I struggled to go out in public and show my face because a lot of the stuff they pumped out in the papers is what the (police) report said but I can’t really comment on that.
“I have pleaded not guilty to it all.
“But obviously there is two sides.
“This has been pretty challenging for me but I am just grateful that the club and Ricky has been behind me the whole way, and my family have stuck with me.
“All the boys have also really helped me out but these last few weeks have been the toughest I have ever gone through.
“I have had a pretty bad picture painted about me.
“I know I have put myself in this position and I just have to deal with it.
“But I am just starting to see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel now and hopefully we can sort it out and put it behind me and move forward.
“I am not a bad person.
“I try my best to be a good person.
“I just put myself in a bad position and I am paying the price 10 fold now for it.”
RICKY’S CHARACTER DEFENCE
Ricky Stuart rules with an iron fist at Canberra and if he doesn’t like you or you let the club down, well, you don’t last.
But Stuart told a story on Thursday about Scott that he reckons puts attacks on the 22-year-old’s character in perspective.
Stuart was down the south coast with some of his players including Scott that are not involved in this weekend’s NRL Nines tournament in Perth.
They are down there to try and give something back to the local communities who lost so much in the bush fires.
But Stuart revealed how Scott had already chipped in more than most young men his age, setting up his own Go Fund Me appeal that raised $25,000 for the people of Cobargo.
Of that Scott forked out $5,000 of his own cash.
“Now how many 22-year-old’s go and do that off their own bat,” Stuart asked.
Scott said he did it after a phone call from his mum made him realise how lucky he was.
Remember, this was weeks before his Australia Day shame.
“Mum is not too far away from where the fires were. She is in Tilba,” Scott said.
“When she called me and broke down on the phone and told me how bad it was I just thought I can use this to try and do what I can for the people on the south coast.
“That is the Australian culture, you help out your mates, and it is something I believe in.
“I thought it is no use just posting stuff on social media that you are feeling for these people.
“I thought I could try and help some people out by dipping into my own pocket and giving as much as I could.
“I donated that to the people of Cobargo to help out the farmers that lost their stock and their live feed.
“We are heading there in the next few days.”
OFF THE GROG
Just last week Scott was forced to front the Raiders’ junior rep squads and speak about what he has learned from these past few weeks.
And how what started out as a weekend party in Sydney has really caused so many people so much pain.
He said his message was simple: “I feel at the end of the day, realistically, it has probably been the best thing for me.
“It has been a big wakeup call not to put yourself in this position or have that one too many drinks.
“It is something that I am definitely going to learn from.
“I have been off alcohol since the incident now and I am going to try and be off it for the remainder of the season.
“And in the meantime I have gone and spoke to the 16s and 18s and 20s and just tried to tell them how it can go wrong so easily.
“When you are at that age you think it is all easy and it won’t happen to me because that is how I thought as a kid.
“But the situation I am in now, the least I can do is try and educate and tell them it is not worth putting yourself in that position because the repercussions are fairly bad.
“And they affect it has on yourself and your family and you club and the people closest to you, it’s not good for anyone.”